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125 years ago in 1899, transcribed as originally published in the Youngstown Vindicator:
Explosion of gas with fire does damage in the Ellis Block. A great wave of flame burst out of a room filled with glass and caused a stampede among spectators.
Last evening about 8:30, there was an explosion in the Ellis block, at the southwest corner of Federal and Walnut street, that was heard as far distant as the public square and that shook a lot of adjacent buildings, besides doing considerable damage in the Ellis block.
The explosion took place on the third floor, on which the most of the rooms are occupied by the members of the Tampa club, and gentlemen who have rented rooms for sleeping in. Sometime before the explosion some of the members of the club detected the odor of gas. After sniffing up the scent for a short time, some of the gentlemen inaugurated an investigation and finally one of them, Christian H. Stein, bookkeeper for Dingledy Bros., went down into the basement and shut off the gas at the meter through which the room of Harry Graham, with the H. L. McElroy company was supplied, the investigation showing that the leak was in his apartment. His room is at the southeast corner of the building, which is divided by a hallway running north and south, with a winding stairway about the centre. The rooms have glass doors and transoms.
During the excitement Officer James Gibson was called in. He and members of the Tampa club heard the escaping gas in the room of Mr. Graham, who had a gas stove with a rubber tube attachment. With their ears to the key hole, the men heard the hissing sound and tried to peer through the glass door to learn if Graham were in his room. All was dark and they could not make out whether he was in bed or not; though fearful that he might have been in the room, and overcome, they did not kick in the door, but one of them pushed in some of the broken glass in the transom.
To do that he stood on a ladder that leads from the hall up to a hatchway in the roof. Officer Gibson at about this time, suggested the expediency of using a lighted match. The suggestion was seconded by some of the philosophic and scientific clubmen. A lighted match was taken by the gentleman on the ladder, who, ducking his head down, stuck his fist through the transom. Instantly there was a great flash of flame, and loud report, accompanied by the fall of shattered glass and the mad stampede of ten or twelve men who were in the hallway. Some of them were blown 10 or 12 feet, and others tumbled headlong down stairs. Officer Gibson is said to have found himself in a barrel of refuse at the head of the stairway.
There is some conflict in the evidence as to the identity of the gentleman who actually struck the match. Some said this morning that that had been done by Officer Gibson, and others charged that up to Mr. Stein.
An alarm was turned in and houses 1, 2, 6 and 3 responded, but no water was used other than the few bucketsful thrown on the flames by Dr. Wm. R. Clark, the dentist with office room on the floor below. The damage by the explosion was confined almost entirely to two rooms on the Walnut street side, both of them used as sleeping rooms. The furniture of Mr. Graham was totally destroyed. It was uninsured and he places his loss at about $100. The furniture in the adjoining room is damaged and the window glass was blown out, as it was in the other rooms across the hall. The total loss may reach $150.
Four fires in one day.
All told yesterday there were four fires, the alarms coming in between about noon and 8:30 o'clock in the evening. The first two were reported in the Vindicator yesterday. The third one, at 4 o'clock was on Prospect Street, when a slight fire damaged the dwelling of Patrick Noonan, a railroad worker, to the extent of $10. Houses 1 and 2 were called out.
The alarm this forenoon at 9:20 was caused by a little blaze in the house of John Evans, at the West End of Grafton street. Evans is employed at the Brier Hill furnaces. The loss was about $3, and houses 1, 3 and 5 were called out."
Compiled from the Youngstown Vindicator by Chelsea Hess, Mahoning Valley Historical Society archives assistant.